My dear fashionistas, welcome to a new series of fashion stories from South America on the Mr.M blog. May, as well as the following months, will be dedicated to one unusual continent – South America, I will show you the countries that I had the opportunity to visit and I am sure that you will enjoy it and want to spend your vacation in one of the destinations. At the very beginning of today’s fashion story, where I will try to convey the beauty of a timeless Italian Elegance of the Dolce & Gabbana brand on the streets of Santiago, I would like to thank The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), local ministries of tourism, national tourism organizations, as well as other partners who selflessly supported my adventure in South America. With their help, travelogues from several countries were created, as well as numerous fashion stories that you will have the opportunity to read during this series of posts, and I sincerely hope that you will enjoy the new adventure.

Posts from Chile were created with the selfless help of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, the National Tourist Organization of Chile (Chile Travel) and Hotel Luciano K.

If by any chance you missed reading the previous travelogues from Chile or you want to remind yourself of some interesting things, take the opportunity to visit the following links:

1. Letters from Chile: Santiago, the vibrant city below the Andes…
2. Luciano K: Luxury Boutique Hotel located in the Heart of Bohemian Santiago…

The pictures for today’s post were taken at one of the most visited tourist attractions in Santiago – Santa Lucia Hill. This place is also known in the Mapuche language as Hill Uelen is a small hill in the center of Santiago. It is located between Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins to the south, Calle Santa Lucia to the west and Victoria Subercazo to the east. The hill has an altitude of 629 m and a height of 69 m above the surrounding area. The hill is the remnant of a 15 million year old volcano. The hill includes a park of 65,300 square meters decorated with ornate facades, steps and fountains. At the highest point there is a viewpoint popular with tourists visiting the city and a meeting place for locals especially for a first date.

It was originally called Uelito o heutrecan by the inhabitants before colonization. However, the current name comes from the day Pedro de Valdivia conquered the hill, December 13, 1540. On that day, “Santa Lucia” is celebrated. It was first used by missionaries as a place of worship or prayer in the years of the smallpox epidemic in 1541. Later, in 1816, Manuel Olager Feliu, a brigadier in the Royal Engineers, designed and built two forts or castles on Santa Lucia Hill, one to the north and the other to the south of the hill. The fortifications were built of stone and lime and could hold eight or twelve guns each. In addition, Olager Feliu designed and built an auxiliary building for ammunition storage and garrison accommodation.

On one side of the hill, Fort Hidalgo was completed in 1820 as a defensive point. On the other hand, the terrain on the hillside was used as a “cemetery for dissidents”, people who did not follow the official Roman Catholic faith of the time or were considered unworthy of burial in the holy place. However, remains buried on the hillside in this manner were eventually moved to a secluded section of the General Cemetery, before said cemetery was, in turn, opened to all burials regardless of creed or social status.

Dolce & Gabbana, the iconic Italian fashion house also known by the initials D&G, was founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. This fashion house specializes in ready-to-wear, bags, accessories, cosmetics, perfumes and licenses its name and branding to the eyewear company Luxottica.

The founders of Dolce & Gabbana, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, met in 1982 while working for Giorgio Correggiori, a prestigious Italian fashion brand. Domenico Dolce started designing and making his own clothes at the age of six. The turning point came in 1983, when the two founded their own studio for design consulting services, which they named “Dolce and Gabbana“. Their first women’s collection debuted in 1985 in the New Talent section of Milan Fashion Week, and the following year in 1986 they opened their first store in Milan.

The first meeting between the two took place over the phone when Dolce called the fashion company where Gabbana worked, looking for a job. After the company hired him, Gabbana took Dolce under his wing and taught him how a fashion company works and how to sketch new designs. Shortly after Dolce’s hiring, Gabbana was conscripted for 18 months of civil service in a mental institution, but upon his return, the two started a design consulting firm.

Dolce & Gabbana‘s 1986 spring-summer collection, called Geometrissimo, was presented alongside other fashion brands. Dolce and Gabbana did not have enough money to hire models or provide them with accessories, so they sought help from their friends. Their friends served as models and wore their personal items to complete the outfit. A sheet from Dolce’s home was used as a stage curtain.

In March 1986, Dolce & Gabbana released their first self-produced collection, Donne Vere/Real Women, for the Fall/Winter 1986/87 season. year. The name of the collection was created under the influence of local women who served as runway models. However, sales were initially disappointing, so Gabbana canceled the fabric order for his second collection. Dolce’s family later offered to help with expenses during a visit to Sicily for Christmas. Incidentally, the fabric company did not receive the cancellation notice in time, and the fabric was ready for them when they returned to Milan. In September 1986, Dolce & Gabbana presented a women’s fashion show for Spring/Summer 1987 called “Trasformismo”. Despite working together, they always invoiced separately until their accountant advised them to invoice together to simplify things and make the business more profitable. The two began billing clients under the name Dolce & Gabbana, which became the name of their burgeoning design business. They produced their next collection in 1986 and opened their first store the same year.

The fashion house continued to gain fame, and in 1987, Dolce & Gabbana presented a women’s fashion show for Spring/Summer 1988 called “Il Gattopardo/Leopard Line”. The following year, they began designing underwear and swimwear, and by 1990, the company was exporting its products to Japan and the United States. In the same year, they launched their first perfume, Dolce&Gabbana Pour Homme and Dolce&Gabbana Pour Femme.

In 1990, the company opened its first women’s boutique in Via Sant’Andrea in Milan. In a 1992 interview, Michael Gross wrote of their third collection: “They were a secret known only to a handful of Italian fashion editors. Their few models changed behind a flimsy screen. They called their collection of t-shirts, cottons and stretchy silk pieces Transformation.” The clothes in this collection came with instructions on seven different ways the piece could be worn in an outfit, as the wearer could use velcro and buckles to change the shape of the garment.

The fourth Dolce & Gabbana collection, inspired by Dolce’s Sicilian roots, left its mark on the Italian fashion market. In this collection, Dolce drew on his Sicilian roots. The advertising campaign for the collection was shot in Sicily by photographer Ferdinando Skijana, and featured Dutch model Marpesa Hennink in black-and-white photographs reminiscent of Italian cinema from the 1940s. The brand’s use of Italian cinema as a theme continued in their fifth collection, which drew on the work of filmmaker Luchino Visconti and his film The Leopard.

One of the dresses from their fourth collection, called the “Sicilian Dress”, became iconic for the brand and was named one of the 100 most important dresses. The dress is considered the epitome of Dolce & Gabbana style, with a skate-like silhouette that flares at the knees creating a swaying movement when walking.

Hal Rubenstein described the piece in 2012, writing: “The Sicilian dress is the essence of Dolce & Gabbana, the brand’s tailoring cornerstone. The dress is inspired by the jumpsuit, but it’s the jumpsuit that graced Anna Magnani and it’s the silhouette that graced Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren, and so on. The bremen clings tightly to the body just like a bra; the neckline is straight, but it’s buttoned at least twice, once on each side, to caressed the chest and in the middle to meet a lifting pleat that provides a slight support. The jumpsuit doesn’t just fall down, it rises at the waist to hold the figure tight, but not too tight, and then flares out to accentuate the hips, tapering slightly at the knees, ensuring that the hips swing as you walk.”

Dolce & Gabbana’s style is influenced by Italian film history and the bohemian style of second-hand shops, resulting in designs with deep colours and animal prints that have been described as “high hippy home”. According to Domenico Dolce, the duo designs clothes to tell a story, similar to making a movie. Creating the most flattering clothes is their priority over setting fashion trends, and they have stated that they wouldn’t mind if their only contribution to fashion history was a black bra. Designers strongly identify with Sicilian culture and consider it their most important source of style and inspiration.

In today’s fashion story, the entire outfit is composed of Dolce Gabbana products: silk short-sleeved shirt, trousers and a crocodile sneakers. You had the opportunity to see the sneakers before on my blog, while the t-shirt and pants are a novelty from the new collection for SS 2025/26.

OUTFIT

T-Shirt: Dolce & Gabbana

Trousers: Dolce & Gabbana

Sneakers: Dolce & Gabbana

My dear fashionistas, we have come to the end of this special fashion story from Chile where we enjoyed the beauty of the timeless refined elegance of the Dolce and Gabbana brand, a partner with whom fashion stories are a real adventure. I sincerely hope you got some inspiration for your ideal spring outfit!

Today’s fashion story would not be possible without the selfless help of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, the National Tourist Organization of Chile (Chile Travel) and Hotel Luciano K in cooperation with local partners who allowed me to feel the spirit and beauty of local culture and the beauty of everyday life in Santiago. Of course, as always, I tried my best to convey to you my impressions of this unusual experience from Chile.

See you soon and continue our fashion adventures from South America on the Mr.M blog! How did you like my outfit today? I really tried my best to prepare today’s post with lots of love and I hope you like it!

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or any message for me, you can write me below in the comments. Of course, as always, you can contact me via email or social media channels, which you can find on the CONTACT page. I’ll see you soon!

With Love from Santiago,
Mr.M

This post is sponsored by the Dolce & Gabbana brand. This post is my personal and honest review of their products.